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Tim Cooper struggles with loneliness as he and his immune system recover from a stem cell transplant. Learn how he finds the strength to keep moving forward, and how you can, too.
Health and healing inspired topics, straight from the headlines to your podcast.
Tim Cooper 0:02
Today is Wednesday May 25th. Wanted to give you an idea of what this last 60 days has been like ... of isolation ... and that's basically what it's been. I've not been able to go out and be around people. I've been restricted from doing that based on my immune system still being low. So, it's been very frustrating as usual. Even more so not because before I could at least go to the store or go see a movie. But despite all that, I have been very thankful to be able to recover the way that I recovered at every step of the way. You have to put your faith in God and do the right things, try to eat healthy. And that's what's in my control. The rest is between God and having great surgeons and great doctors.
Gina DiPietro 0:50
This is the story of Tim Cooper, a 56-year-old Black man with multiple myeloma, a rare incurable blood cancer. Tim, a bright light, a man of faith, is documenting his experience to help others.
Tim Cooper 1:07
October 22, November 21, another week...
Gina DiPietro 1:12
And here's the thing about Tim: He brings a far more upbeat philosophical outlook to a situation than most of us could muster.
Tim Cooper 1:21
I'm no prophet. I'm no great individual in the sense that I'm an average guy. But I think I've been placed in an extraordinary situation that I was meant to deal with. You know, why not me? So hopefully, whatever I can share with you can help you to move through this process, and deal with it and take it one day at a time.
Gina DiPietro 1:46
Welcome to Novant Health Healthy Headlines. We're so happy to have you. I'm Gina DiPietro, here with Part Four of Tim Cooper's story, and what's happened since his stem cell transplant. He was elated to leave the hospital on March 23. As the months ticked by, though, and he and his immune system recovered, a loneliness settled in. It's where today's episode began. And that's the thing with cancer. It's like a roller coaster that twists and turns unpredictably. It's tough. There's no denying that. But here's the thing: He's also found ways to cope with life as it is today.
Tim Cooper 2:32
Take it one day at a time. If you try to plan out two weeks, chances are it may not work out for you based on a variety of things out of your control. So, just do it couple of days at a time. Work out. I'm gonna go tomorrow.
Tim Cooper 2:47
I felt inspired to get up on this Sunday morning, to get out here and walk. It's a nice day, a little overcast but no breeze, about 50 60 degrees. Listening to some good gospel music from the Walls group to motivate me around.
Tim Cooper 3:03
Keeping the right people around you. And I have great support. I've been listening to a few more sermons that have been referred to me by friends and people in my mom's church. We go over there Sundays and they have an online service that we normally watch. You know, and do more positive things, go to the gym. When you've been isolated for so long, all these things will help with the mindset.
Gina DiPietro 3:26
The good news, if there is a good news with cancer, is that incurable and terminal are two very different things. Tim's myeloma can't be cured. It can however, be treated so he can go on to enjoy life. As he works towards that goal, exercise and diet have been his therapy.
Tim Cooper 3:49
Going to the gym has been great. So I'm starting to see results and feeling better. I go at least four days out of the week. All these things are helping me to rebuild a foundation...
Gina DiPietro 4:04
Another step towards regaining his independence arrived May 23rd.
Tim Cooper 4:09
Guess where I'm at? Well, first of all, good afternoon. Today is May 23.
Gina DiPietro 4:17
After a year of being chauffeured to doctor's appointments, Tim was cleared to drive.
Tim Cooper 4:24
I'm driving for the first time. Excited! So, another milestone here today. It's still one of the things that have been frustrating about... Are you showing the camera? Stop it. Stop, stop, stop, stop it.
Gina DiPietro 4:40
That's Tim's brother, Tony. And when I heard this, I couldn't help but laugh. As someone with three siblings, boy can I relate. We found endless ways to annoy each other as kids. And some things never change. Just like Tim and Tony, I thought. Here's their second try at Tim's big announcement.
Tony Cooper 5:01
Hello. I'm Tony Cooper, Tim's brother. And normally I'm the escort, driving him to his appointments and everything. But today, I'm the passenger. And look who's driving!
Tim Cooper 5:14
Hey, how are you doing? First time getting behind the wheel. So I'm excited! Not driving very far, going from Walgreens to my house, so another first step to getting back to some normalcy. So, here we go! Talk to you later.
Gina DiPietro 5:36
Tim's desire to live life, be independent again .... that was a big factor in his decision to have the stem cell transplant. In combination with high doses of chemo, that treatment could help push his cancer into remission.
Timothy Cooper 5:53
My biopsy results will be in today. So, today is the big day. Duh, duh, duh...
Gina DiPietro 6:00
He waited a long time, months, to hear how it went. And he was understandably nervous when May 27 arrived.
Timothy Cooper 6:09
A little nerve wracking, but also anxious to hear the results. I'm going to receive it will be a positive results. But I've also have to acknowledge that if it's not, you know, what is the next step? When I was here last time, I spoke to my nurse practitioner and she said if it did come back, and it wasn't the result that I wanted, it would still be an outpatient-type process. They'd give me medication, I'd come back once a month and they'd evaluate me and we just go from there until I'm at that point. So either way, it's still moving forward. It's a matter of what the next step is going to be. And they're calling me now. So, we're just waiting for the results and then we'll go from there.
Gina DiPietro 6:58
Some people have a partial response to treatment. Others have a complete or full remission. His oncologist, Dr. Patricia Kropf, explained all that in Part Three. If you haven't listened, you might hit the pause button and find that link, which I've included in the episode summary. Here, Dr. Kropf shares Tim's results.
Dr. Patricia Kropf 7:29
Tim's results are excellent. We've decreased the amount of the circulating myeloma protein substantially. So essentially, his organs right now were safe, his kidneys and his bones aren't at risk for damage due to the myeloma protein. Moving forward, however, Tim does need to continue on a low dose of what we call maintenance therapy. And this consists of two different drugs to keep him in remission. And to keep his myeloma protein suppressed.
Gina DiPietro 8:01
That maintenance therapy includes the same cancer-killing drugs Tim's been on, but at lower doses and administered less often. While he knew this could happen, he was still surprised to hear he needed so soon.
Tim Cooper 8:16
So, I have to tell you that when I first heard the news, and I mean I wasn't depressed but it definitely made me disappointed.
Gina DiPietro 8:24
Human nature is like that: It often has us assuming that something's going to be wonderful or terrible. Reality often lies in the middle, and that's especially true with medicine and cancer.
Tim Cooper 8:38
That's the thing with cancer. I mean, cancer is unpredictable. And the side effects that it has with it are also unpredictable. And it really made me sit back and say, 'You know what, Tim? You got ahead of yourself a little bit,' which is normal, you know. To think that you're going to be doing better. Everything went so well from the stem cell transplant, you automatically assume, "Okay, the biopsy is gonna be done and it's going to come out great.' So, it did kind of set me back a little bit. I always try to give a positive front, but you know, it was a little tough on me.
Gina DiPietro 9:09
Anxiety tends to accumulate with an unpredictable disease like cancer. And Tim's low mood was only made worse by another issue he'd been dealing with....
Tim Cooper 9:19
Maybe in last month or so, I started having issues when I'm in bed. And my legs would go numb. And at some points, I had some excruciating pain along the side of my legs, in the thigh area.
Gina DiPietro 9:32
He was concerned enough to make an appointment with his neurosurgeon, Dr. John Berry-Candelario at Novant Health Spine Specialists.
Tim Cooper 9:41
Okay, so what is the apparatus actually called on my neck? What is that called?
Tim Cooper 9:45
So, I went back to Dr. Candelario to make sure that nothing was wrong. We had some X rays done, and it was determined that two more of my screws had come out. And so I was like, 'Oh, boy. What is this now?'
Gina DiPietro 10:00
In an earlier episode, we shared a devastating side effect of Tim's cancer: Myeloma bone disease, which makes bones extremely weak. It can cause fractures, mobility and neurological issues, even disability. When Tim got his diagnosis, the bone disease was quite bad, prompting the two surgeries needed to stabilize the lower part of his neck.. that area called the cervical spine ...which prevented him from becoming paralyzed. Next, doctors began treating his cancer with things like chemo and radiation. Effective in killing cancer? Yes. But with any cancer-killing treatment, there are expected side effects. Dr. Berry-Candelario explains what likely happened and how they'd fix it.
Dr. John Berry-Candelario 10:56
So, one of the strategies that we utilize for patients like Tim, is we try to control the burden of his disease with radiation. One of the downsides of that, at times, it can weaken the bone quality and bone structure. What we found over time is that, because of that combination of factors, Tim was unable to really fuse his hardware as well as we would have liked. And so some of his bone quality worsened in the short-term. So this particular third surgery, now that he's out of the phase where he needs radiation, we'll will need to go back in and kind of address that for better stabilization on term.
Gina DiPietro 11:36
That's next in the fifth and final episode of Tim Cooper story.
Gina DiPietro 11:45
I'm Gina DiPietro, your host, and I'm humbled to tell Tim's story. If you enjoyed this podcast, leave us a five-star review, or share it with friends. Find us on Apple, Google Spotify, or just about anywhere you listen to podcasts. And leave Tim a note of encouragement. You'll find his story under Editor's Picks on www.healthyheadlines.org. Or use the search feature to type in his name. People can join the discussion at the end of that article, and Tim's responded to many of the comments already. Thanks for listening.